Iran declares victory after U.S. report

By Reza Derakhshi

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's president declared victory over the United States on Wednesday and the head of a U.N. watchdog said Iran had been "somewhat vindicated" by a U.S. report that it halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

U.S. President George W. Bush called for Tehran to "come clean" on its nuclear activities and stop its enrichment of uranium, which can potentially be used to make atomic bombs.

But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran would press ahead with its nuclear program which the Islamic Republic says has only peaceful civilian aims.

"Today, the Iranian nation is victorious but you (the United States) are empty-handed," Ahmadinejad said at a rally in the western Iranian city of Ilam.

The U.S. National Intelligence Estimate published Monday said Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons program four years ago. It said Iran was continuing to develop the technical means that could be applied to producing weapons.

The report appeared likely to increase resistance from Russia and China to U.S. demands, backed by France and Britain, for a third round of United Nations sanctions against Iran over its nuclear ambitions.

"We of course will be actively pushing for a third U.N. Security Council resolution," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto. "Anyone who thinks the threat from Iran has receded or diminished, I think is just naive and is not paying attention to the facts."

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the report gave Iran a chance to resolve the crisis and former chief U.N. arms inspector Hans Blix said it meant there would be no military action against Iran "in the intermediate future."